Prepare a File for Vinyl Cutting

This is a tutorial on how to prepare and what to keep in mind to optimize files for vinyl cutting.

For this tutorial, I am using Adobe Illustrator CC 2018.

This tutorial expects the reader to have basic notions of how to use the tool: pen, direct and indirect selection, text, or whatever you need to draw the design.

I will pretend that the La Trenca association, which works on the conservation and recovery of fauna, linked to the Vallcalent Fauna Recovery Center, has asked me to make a design to decorate a glass facade, with vinyl, interpreting one of the SDG.

The Trenca is also the name of a bird that is critically endangered under the IUCN criteria.

Those same words, along with the bird, I think they get the message about the importance of preserving wildlife and the environment, strongly.

Although this is just a large format vinyl cutting simulation. I recommend doing a search for vinyl cutting providers, looking at the different types of vinyl and the color chart.

For the reference image, I have looked at the products of Hexis Graphics

Since the design promotes the fifth goal of the SDG, I thought it was important to choose the most environmentally friendly vinyl possible for the design.

Normally, the ECOTAC E3000 product, made of 80 micron adhesive PVC, would be the most suitable for this type of application.

There are some ecological vinyls based on Polyolefin without PVC, without chlorine or plasticizers (ECE3004M), the problem is that it is only available in mate white and mate black. I need 4 different shades for this project, I thought I'd take those products and mix them with the next greener product, also PVC free, but the issue is that it's only available in bright shades.

So finally I will pick the 4 tones with the PVC-free product, SMARTAC EVOLUTION A5000, this product has higher performance than necessary, but being a simulation it will help us. The fact that the design is made up of 4 colors would also make the product much more expensive, so I recommend you always keep that in mind, in case you want to make it a reality.

Finally, the chosen tones are:

A5001B

A5445B

A5446B

A5200B

*note that the nomenclature gives us a clue about the finish (B versus M)

Make your design as you normally would.

I recommend making several text boxes with the same phrase to better compare and choose which one best suits our project.

Once I have one or two fonts selected, I play with the tools to modify the scale of the font, etc., to finish defining the parameters that will serve as a stylistic guide.

I do the same process for the two fonts that I will use in the project.

For the phrase "Critical Risk" I have picked a font similar to the well-known "Impact", wide fonts, without serifs, really serve to cause an impact, they also simulate capital letters, which reinforces the effect. Even so, compared to the "Impact" font, the one I have chosen, it has more rounded shapes, which make it less aggressive, in my opinion, it combines better with the rounded shapes of Trenca.

For the reference to SDG 19, I have picked a typeface with very organic shapes, as if it were written by hand. Having this type of shape and being the same color as the branch, it does not stand out too much. That is what I wanted, since it is a complementary text.

Using the text tool, the typography is built with a line, that would be very problematic if we sent it like that to the cutting machine, since it would cut the interior lines of which our typography is composed.

That is why we have to convert it into form.

To achieve this, right-click on the selected text, and select the option "Create Outlines"

Our typography will have been converted into shapes, we can find each of them within a group in our layers panel.

Once converted into form, it is a good time to finish customizing the typography, to make it more original and fit better with the design.

In my case, I modified the shape of the letters C. I also shortened the length of the letters E, and created an accent on the letter I.

Surely at this point in the project, you could have your design full of overlapping lines.

Specifically in my design, as most of the shapes are separated from each other, that would only cause problems when applying the vinyl on the surface, since some parts of the colored sheets would go below and others, of the same color, would go above...

But in some cases, it could cause a much bigger issue, by cutting our design into parts where it shouldn't. This can be seen in the dark part of the head and bill.

If we don't solve these overlapping paths problem, the result of the application will be much worse, and we will spend more time using the cutting machine.

In simple designs, where it is clear that all shapes of the same color go on top of each other, you might consider letting your vinyls sit on top of each other.

You have to understand that the really important thing is that the same color, that is, what will become a single file for the cutting machine, should not have strokes, only shapes.

To avoid problems, I have prepared the design so that no part is overlapping.

Duplicating the layers and using the Pathfinder tool might be the easiest way to achieve this.

To duplicate the layers you only have to select them and drag them towards the icon of creation of a new layer. You can also duplicate an object by dragging it with ALT, but in this case I recommend the first method mentioned, since that way they stay in the same place.

Check in the layers panel that there are no layers with objects that are lines or small unnecessary shapes.

Select each shape separately and check that their path doesn't intertwine. Also check that all forms are closed, if not, close them.

Check that there are no unwanted blank spaces left.

If everything is correct, you already have the design ready

On the two diagonals, I have added some small marks (they will be cut, but they will not form any detachable shape)

This could serve as a guide, to make all the colors fit together properly.

Some suppliers may remove excess vinyl before handing it over to us, it might be interesting to find out about that or how our supplier proceeds. Since perhaps those marks are unnecessary or have to be applied with a shape instead of with a line

You will need to save a file for each different color to be cut. Since the cutting machine cuts the vinyls one by one.

To do this, hide all layers that are not the same color, and save the file as .svg.

You must do that with each different color.

Your files are now ready for the cutting machine

Right now I have 4 files as a result, one for each color.